Velo Klubhaus.com is about cycling and a bit about life

Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace – North London Gravel

Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace gravel cycle ride and a gem in London.

In an effort to optimise the sales value of the cluster of luxury high rise towers in Vauxhall and Battersea, rebranded as ‘Nine Elms on the Southbank’, there was much hype about a new linear park to link Vauxhall with Battersea Park (past the U.S. embassy).This linear park looked great in the renderings but, rather predictably, what we’re actually getting is a narrow path with a grass verge dodging through the shadowy canyons of premium high rise buildings mostly built for ‘property banking’ purposes. (Apparently the reason why we’re even getting this much is the fact that underneath will run the hot water pipeline to link the yet to be constructed combined heat and power plant to the new dwellings, and this can’t be built on.)

If you want to see what a real linear park looks like, you have to go to north London’s Finsbury Park and follow the now abandoned railway from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace and through Stroud Green, Crouch End, Highgate and Muswell Hill.

The railway was part of London’s rapid expansion in the 19th century and was built in 1860 by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway running from Finsbury Park to Highgate with the aim of linking to Edgeware. It was taken over by Great Northern Railway to continue to Alexandra Palace as part of their branch lines to service Finchley and High Barnet.

In the 1930’s it was proposed to integrate it into the Northern Line as part of London’s tube system. The outbreak of the Second World War saw this plan lapse and passenger trains stopped working the line in 1954. In 1964 freight traffic also ended and the route was ultimately abandoned.

After a fight and developers repulsed the Parkland Walk was created and it follows the old railway line and is protected as a site of scientific interests. The surface is mostly gravel and flat, the route is split into two sections with the North Section stopping at what was once Highgate Hill Station where it entered tunnels under Highgate Woods, these are now closed and are a refuge for bats. To continue onto the north section, you must briefly enter the harsh and noisy world of London main roads to regain the route at Cranley Gardens. You can lessen your exposure to London traffic by entering at Gypsy Lane Gate and the ancient Highgate Woods (Saved from developers by the same acts of Parliament as Epping Forest and Highgate Cemetery is also nearby) before re-joining the Parklands Walk at Cranley Gardens, It is worth the effort because the views of London from the North Section are amazing. Cycling in Highgate Woods is banned so you need to pedal along the main road to link back onto the route.

I continued into Alexandra Palace the home of World Television and the first indoor Velodrome. (there is also a lost railway from Ally Pally that saw three stations service the venue but only one remains)

For cyclists (‘considerate cyclists welcome’) this green linear park can be too busy with walkers at the weekend and is really too short for a sustained ride (if only you could pedal in Highgate Woods) but is great for a quick gravel spin. (just say hello and smile at the walkers unlike the speed guro who ignored our friendly gestures)

The Parkland Walk linear park is very much a place where you can go ‘Roubaixesque’ by linking it together with other routes.

The south section of the line to Highgate

Finsbury Park which once hosted great cycle races

The start at Oxford Road, Finsbury Park

The railway was two tracks wide and crosses many roads

August (2) – North London Gravel – htp2018/08/07/finsbury-park-to-alexandra-palace-north-london-gravel/

Crouch Hill Station retains its platforms

The never used electric power room at Crouch Hill Station

Suburban London is just over the wall

At Highgate Station

A little bit of the past at Highgate

The line entered tunnels at Highgate, now closed to all but bats

High Gate Woods

Highgate Wood cricket grounds

Back onto the railway at Cranley Gardens

Looking south across London on the Northern Section

End of the line at Ally Pally

Into Ally Pally park

Alexandra Palace

Looking south over London

Back onto the North Section

Returning via Highgate Woods

The Spriggan, a nod to an urban myth of a haunting of the area by a ghostly goat man and maybe the inspiration of Stephen King’s short story Crouch End

A typical view when travelling by train in London, well except it wouldn’t be so nature like

More from Gravel Off Piste

For this ‘it’s a small world – for the love of pave part two’ (Part One is here) I got a little more ambitious and imagined a scenario where it has been raining all day, but as the three members of the breakaway continue on their way it has stopped pouring down and they themselves… Continue Reading

There is ‘London tight’ and there is ‘Roubaix tight’; this passed through my mind when after much bike preparation I hit the first stretch of pave at Troisville the first section of cobbles on the route used by the Paris Roubaix pro road race held in April. In the race the riders take in a… Continue Reading

I am an ex-London cyclist and now a Goettingen rider – I have a fondness for cyclo cross and gravel cycling. This webpage is about my German gravel, naturweg, Panzer Weg and road rides. This, I guess will be a narrative of sorts of my cycle life in my newly adopted home country. I would… Continue Reading

Since my big change in life I have ridden my bike, listened to more LP’s and read more books in one month than I did in a year. Maybe this also has something to do with me being without a TV service which means no plonking myself in front of the ‘telly’ (which I do… Continue Reading

Results, video and picture links from the cycle road race 2019 calendar which feature gravel, pave and dirt. Road races that have in common a touch of the ‘Roubaixesque’ about them. Sadly I cannot say that all the video links will survive review by the geo-restriction or TV rights ‘police’. You can use a VPN… Continue Reading

Mayday is a public holiday in Germany and like most public holidays and Sundays retail life slows almost to a halt and it all seems a bit old fashioned compared to the 24/7 shopping fuelled frenzied lifestyles (and endless sales) which seem the norm in the UK. Except, even here in Germany there are those… Continue Reading